Chinese American scientist vindicated with a settlement of $1.75 million settlement

SCIENTIST SHERRY CHEN

Wrongfully accused of being a spy, Chinese American scientist Sherry Chen finally received justice in the form of a $1.75 million settlement from the federal government.


“The government’s investigation and prosecution of me was discriminatory and unjustified,” said Sherry Chen. “The Commerce Department is finally being held responsible for its wrongdoing and for the conduct of its illegal security unit, which has had a devastating impact on my life and the lives of so many other federal employees. No one else should have to endure this injustice.”

On Nov. 10, Chen’s lawyers announced that the scientist won a historic $1.75 million settlement from the US Commerce Department for her wrongful prosecution and subsequent termination from the National Weather Service. “The government’s investigation and prosecution of me was discriminatory and unjustified,” Chen said in a statement. “The Commerce Department is finally being held responsible for its wrongdoing … No one else should have to endure this injustice.”

The settlement - $550,000 from the Commerce Department and an annuity from the government valued at $1.25 million over 10 years – marks the end of Chen's lawsuit.

"Ms Chen's historic settlement is a victory for her and for Chinese American communities," said Ashley Gorski, senior staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, co-counsel of Chen's case. "It makes clear that profiling and discrimination are unacceptable, and that the government will be held to account," she said in a statement.

Chen's case began with racial profiling. Even though she had won awards for helping save lives from dangerous floodwaters, after she visited her elderly parents in China, she was targeted. She was accused of crimes such as espionage, interrogated without being advised of her rights, and then brought under federal prosecution and terminated from employment.

On the eve of trial, however, the government dropped all criminal charges. Sherry was always, and remains, an innocent American. 

“As a public servant, I have been in the front line protecting people’s safety and their property," said Chen. "I made my contribution to this country. I have been an innocent American and a law abiding citizen. However, my life has been turned upside down twice by our government for doing nothing wrong. I am glad to receive the court’s favorable ruling on my MSPB claim.”

Chen’s case was an early instance of what would become a much bigger pattern of the US government’s increasing suspicion of Chinese and Chinese American scientists amid growing competition between the US and China. The settlement is a personal and symbolic victory after years of persecution.

Chen’s investigation and firing predated the Justice Department’s China Initiative, a Trump-era program to counter Chinese economic espionage that, despite its stated goals, disproportionately targeted Chinese-American academic researchers for alleged grant fraud or disclosure issues—and saw a higher number of cases fall apart before trial than the federal average.

In addition to the monetary damages, Chen’s lawyers say that the Commerce Department will also host a private meeting with the scientist and provide a letter acknowledging her record and accomplishments as a government hydrologist.

It’s not quite the apology that Chen’s supporters, organized by the advocacy organization APA Justice and signed by over 1,000 individuals and organizations, demanded in an open letter sent earlier this year to Gina Raimondo, the secretary of commerce. However, the chance to sit down with Commerce Department officials and the promise of a written acknowledgement “were very important to Ms. Chen and were negotiated as part of the settlement,” Gorski told us.

The symbolism of her settlement may be especially welcome in the aftermath of the ill-fated China Initiative, which MIT Technology Review investigated last year and found to be ineffective with respect to its stated goals and to have overwhelmingly targeted individuals of Chinese heritage, who made up 90% of defendants.

The Biden administration officially ended the China Initiative in February, but numerous studies have pointed to its broader chilling effects on scientific collaboration between the US and China, as well as declining interest in the United States as a destination for higher education and research. Not to mention the lingering personal effects for individuals caught up in the web, even if they were ultimately cleared.

That gives added significance to the outcome of Chen’s lawsuits. “It’s an enormous victory for Ms. Chen personally,” said Gorski, “and for the Chinese American community as well. The settlement makes clear that when the government discriminates, it’s going to be held accountable.”

Chen's victory was cheered by Chinese American community members. “The Sherry Chen case has meant so much to Asian Americans, especially Chinese immigrants, because they identify with her," said Committee of 100 President Frank H. Wu. 

"Sherry could be your sister, cousin, or aunt. She is representative. Even though she wanted to contribute to America, she was singled out on account of who she is. So many of us have had that experience too.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.

DOJ: 'We are no longer going to have a China Initiative'

Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen

Under growing pressure from AAPI civil rights organizations, political leaders and academic circles, the Department of Justice is scrapping the controversial Trump-era China Initiative.

“We are no longer going to have a China Initiative,” Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen. "‘I have concluded that this initiative is not the right approach’ and that it is ‘not wise to focus on one country."

The DOJ is dropping the name but will continue to investigate China's aggressive espionage strategy as part of an overall campaign addressing the global security challenges facing the US without singling out China and promoting anti-Asian xenophobia and violence. 

“The China Initiative is a failed program that has fueled racial animosity, xenophobia, and suspicion towards the AAPI community and Chinese Americans in particular,” said Zhengyu Huang, President of the Committee of 100, a group of Chinese and Chinese American academics, researchers and business people. 

“The China Initiative has ruined the lives of innocent Americans and hurts America’s ability to lead in scientific research and innovation. Even when cases are dismissed, many Chinese and Asian Americans have their lives, careers, and health greatly affected," the Committee stated in an earlier press release.

Prior to the DOJ announcement Wednesday, Olsen met with members of the Congressional Asian Pacific America Caucus (CAPAC) to hear concerns about the China Initiative, its use of racial profiling, and the harm it has caused the Asian American community. 

Acknowledging that the China Initiative’s deep flaws, Olsen said the DOJ will no longer use this program’s framework in their investigations of economic espionage. 

"By starting with a focus on researchers and scientists who are ethnically Chinese, the China Initiative not only engaged in blatant racial profiling, but also reinforced harmful stereotypes that Asian Americans are ‘perpetual others’ who cannot be trusted, ruining numerous lives in the process," said Rep. Judy Chu, D-CA, chair of the CAPAC.

With only one conviction since its creation in 2018, the China Initiative will be remembered not for any success at curbing espionage, but rather for ruining careers and discouraging many Asian Americans from pursuing careers in STEM fields out of fear that they too will be targeted, said Chu. 

Many of the cases involved errors in the complicated paperwork and have typically involved allegations that the targets lied or omitted information on disclosure forms accompanying grant applications.

Last month, the DOJ dropped all charges against an MIT professor, Gang Chen, because paperwork was misinterpreted by investigators.

A CBS investigation found that the DOJ has dropped charges against eight other Chinese or Chinese Americans.

"By focusing solely on China despite ongoing threats from countries like Iran and Russia, this initiative painted China as a uniquely existential threat to the US, something we know has led to more violence," said Chu. "There are serious national security concerns facing our country from all across the world, but our response must be based on evidence, not racism and fear."

Rep. Judy Chu:"There are serious national security concerns facing our country from all across
 the world, but our response must be based on evidence, not racism and fear."

In his announcement, Olsen stressed that espionage and the theft of technology and intellectual property by the Peoples Republic of China is real and the FBI will continue to investigate those threats.

"I want to emphasize my belief that the department’s actions have been driven by genuine national security concerns," said Olsen. "But by grouping cases under the China Initiative rubric, we helped give rise to a harmful perception that the department applies a lower standard to investigate and prosecute criminal conduct related to that country or that we in some way view people with racial, ethnic or familial ties to China differently.

"This erosion of trust in the department can impair our national security by alienating us from the people we serve, including the very communities the PRC government targets as victims," he added.

Olsen's announcement was largely cautiously applauded by AAPI advocates, who wanted more than a "cosmetic" rebranding.

"While we are cautiously optimistic about the Justice Department's announcement, it cannot be a rebranding exercise and more needs to be done to combat racial profiling, especially when we continue to see academics step forward with stories about being targeted," OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates’ national president Linda Ng said in a statement.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AAPI perspective, follow me on Twitter @DioknoEd.

Gov't profiling targets researchers and scientists of Asian descent, says study

Researchers and scientists of Asian descent are being targeted by government agencies because of their race and ethnicity concludes a new survey.

“What is clear from this research is that U.S. scientists and researchers of Chinese descent and non-Chinese descent experience the world and their work very differently because of racism, stereotypes, xenophobia, and government policies,” said Dr. Jenny J. Lee, Professor in the Center for the Study of Higher Education, College of Education, at the University of Arizona. 

The white paper “Racial Profiling Among Scientists of Chinese Descent and Consequences for the U.S. Scientific Community” conducted by the Committee of 100, whose members are Chinese and Chinese American researchers and scientists. 

The survey results and data  demonstrate a consistent pattern of racial profiling in science and research. Scientists of Chinese descent and of Asian descent report far greater racial profiling from the U.S. government, difficulty in obtaining research funds, professional challenges and setbacks, and fear and anxiety that they are surveilled by the U.S. government, compared to non-Asian scientists.

The survey data also shows that the China Initiative is producing a wave of fear among scientists of non-Chinese descent as well, where scientists have described cutting ties with their collaborators in China, no longer hiring Chinese postdocs, and limiting communications with scholars in China, even at the expense of their own research projects.

Scientists of Chinese descent indicate in the survey that they have purposely not pursued federal funding for projects for fear of increased scrutiny, compared to scientists of non- Chinese descent. This can lead to smaller teams, downsizing of projects, and working with reduced resources. 

Scientists of Chinese descent have also started to consider working in less hostile climates outside the U.S., which could affect talent retention. The enrollment of new international graduate students from China has already been declining.

Key data points pulled from the report:

● Overall, scientists of Chinese descent and non-Chinese descent both recognize the value of scientists of Chinese descent and support collaboration with China. 96.8% of scientists of Chinese descent and 93.6% of scientists of non-Chinese descent believe that scientists of Chinese descent make important contributions to research and teaching programs in the U.S.

 ● 42.2% of scientists of Chinese descent feel racially profiled by the U.S. government, while only 8.6% of scientists of non-Chinese descent feel so.

● 38.4% of scientists of Chinese descent experience more difficulty in obtaining funding for research projects in the U.S. as a result of their race/ethnicity/country of origin, compared to only 14.2% of scientists of non-Chinese descent.

● 50.7% of scientists of Chinese descent feel considerable fear and/or anxiety that they are being surveilled by the U.S. government, compared to only 11.7% of scientists of non-Chinese descent.

● 39.7% of scientists of Chinese descent believe the U.S. should be tougher on China to prevent the theft of intellectual property, while 74.8% of scientists of non-Chinese descent feel so.

 ● Among those who had reported conducting research that involves China over the past 3 years, a higher percentage of the scientists of Chinese over non-Chinese descent reported limiting communication with collaborators in China (40.6% vs. 12.8%), deciding not to involve China in future projects (23.8% vs. 5.8%), and deciding not to work with collaborators in China in the future projects (23.2% vs. 9.7%).

 ● Among those whose research with China was prematurely suspended over the past three years, 78.5% of scientists of Chinese descent wanted to distance themselves from collaborators in China due to the China Initiative, compared to 27.3% of scientists of non-Chinese descent.

 ● Among non-U.S. citizen scientists in the sample, 42.1% of the scientists of Chinese descent indicate that the FBI investigations and/or the China Initiative affected their plans to stay in the U.S., while only 7.1% of the scientists of non-Chinese descent report so.

Members of Congress have asked the Department of Justice Secretary Merrick Garland that the China Initiative be reviewed for the possibility of racial profiling.

Calls on the administration to end the initiative was renewed recently after its first case to go to trial ended in the defendant’s acquittal.

Hu Anming, a professor at University of Tennessee, was cleared of all charges in September after a federal judge ruled that the government's case faltered because the government attorneys failed to provide sufficient evidence that he had intended to defraud NASA.

In another case, espionage charges against government researcher Sherry Chen were dropped for lack of evidence but the government agency she worked for refused to fully reinstate her. She has filed a lawsuit asking for financial damages incurred by the charges. 

But even when charges against individuals like Chen and Hu are dropped, rights groups warn that the reputational, financial and emotional tolls on them and their families remain.

“The U.S. is the global leader in scientific research, yet suspicions of scientists of Chinese descent in the U.S. have made progress and exchange more difficult,” says  Zheng Yu Huang, President of Committee of 100. 

“Government policies have a direct correlation with and impact on advancements in life-saving innovation and technological breakthroughs" says Huang. "We need to move beyond the stereotypes of the perpetual foreigner and halt the xenophobia being directed at Chinese Americans and the entire AAPI community."

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AAPI perspective, follow me on Twitter @DioknoEd.

DOJ to retry Chinese professor; acquittal sought

Supporters of Anming Hu protest government plan for a retrial.

Federal prosecutors announced July 30 that they intend to retry former University of Tennessee professor Anming Hu, just weeks after jurors deadlocked in the first trial over claims that Hu hid ties to China.

A judge had ordered the U.S. government to provide an update indicating whether it would retry Hu by July 30. Hu was initially charged in February 2020 with federal counts of wire fraud and an FBI agent reportedly admitted to baselessly accusing the former professor of espionage during the trial.

“We are deeply disappointed by the federal government’s decision to retry Professor Hu,” said OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates’ National President Linda Ng. “The original trial laid bare the misguided and systemic efforts to strip Asian Americans and Asian immigrants of their civil liberties and shows the entrenched anti-Asian sentiment rampant among some members of law enforcement. And more importantly, it incurred a high emotional and financial toll on Hu and his family.”

“The federal government must understand how harmful this initiative is to both the targeted professors and the greater Asian American community,” said OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates’ Deputy Executive Director Thu Nguyen. “Not only is the rhetoric around the ‘China Initiative’ perpetuating anti-Asian sentiments, stereotypes, and hate incidents, it destroys the careers of those targeted.”

After the government made its announcement, defense attorney Philip Lomonaco filed a renewed motion for judgment of acquittal, which was originally filed on June 11, 2021. The motion for acquittal was made because "the evidence was insufficient to sustain a conviction. There is no evidence that Professor Hu willfully intended to deceive NASA... Without the intent to deceive there can be no wire fraud conviction. Without the convictions for wire fraud, the remaining counts would fail as well... In the alternative, Defendant would rely on previous briefings to the Court regarding the lack of intent to harm NASA as being a defense to wire fraud as well."

Nearly 100 members of Congress, led by Rep. Ted Lieu, sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland expressing concerns over potential misconduct in the Hu case and urged for an investigation into the U.S. Department of Justice’s “wrongful targeting of individuals of Asian descent.”

“What the federal government has done today is to confirm an utter disregard for justice and our democracy. This trial has exposed the deeply problematic investigations, surveillance, and prosecutions of Asian Americans and Asian immigrants," the Advancing Justice | AAJC said in a statement.

University of Tennessee Professor Anming Hu 

Reps. Jamie Raskin, D-MD, and Judy Chu, D-CA, convened a virtual “roundtable” in  June to discuss the implications of the China Initiative for Chinese American researchers. 

While the lawmakers conceded the need to combat foreign espionage, they cited the number of cases the DOJ dropped because of lack of evidence.

During the roundtable, Chu, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, argued that the China said, “Whereas most investigations start with a crime and then find a suspect, this initiative starts with a suspect and then searches for a crime,” adding, “Just family ties to China or even professionally encouraged research and collaboration is enough to trigger an investigation,” according to an article published by the American Institute of Physics.

Raskin apointed out it has been common for cases against Chinese researchers to fall apart, spotlighting a few prominent instances, such as the case leveled against Los Alamos National Lab scientist Wen Ho Lee in the late 1990s. 

In addition, the AIP article said Raskin criticized DOJ’s recent focus on nondisclosure of ties to China, asserting that federal requirements are an “inconsistent jumble of ever-changing, ever-mutating guidance, making it difficult for scientists to avoid getting caught up in the FBI’s web.”

The DOJ asserts that it does not premise investigations on ethnic background and that lying about sources of support is a crime against the integrity of research. 

Criticism from members of Congress and community advocates such as OCA adds to a growing protest among community groups, researchers, and some university leaders that enforcement actions have been overzealous and are causing serious harms.

More than 200 researchers rallied around MIT nanotechnologist Gang Chen after he was indicted in January on charges related to nondisclosure of funding and affiliations. 

Despite the growing chorus of critics, the Biden administration has not stated their position on the China Initiative. There is some hope among Democratic lawmakers  that the DOJ would create an amnesty program as an alternative to prosecution.

Sunday Read: DOJ declares its China Initiative a success

The Department of Justice under Donald Trump has put a bull’s-eye on the Chinese government, pushing prosecutors across the country to focus on investigations of Chinese state-backed efforts to steal intellectual property.

Many Chinese researchers, students and visitors and Chinese Americans feel that the controversial program has placed a target on their back, and that they victims of racial profiling. Other critics who say the Initiative has done little more than drive talent away from the U.S.

Although the initiative has resulted in some arrests and prison time for those found guilty, the work has also swept up some Chinese Americans who were innocent of the allegations but lost their jobs, studies ended or had their reputation ruined because of the perceived connection with Chinese efforts to secure U.S. technology and research.

Since the Department of Justice announced its "China Initiative" in 2018, it has filed scores of criminal cases pertaining to economic espionage, trade secret, and export controls. According to the DOJ's Assistant Attorney General for National Security, "The Department's China Initiative is focused on preventing and prosecuting thefts of American technology and intellectual property for the benefit of China." 

The work involves investigations into American academics and work with U.S. universities, and department officials say their nationwide undertaking isn’t slowing it down.

The department’s targets range from Chinese military officers to American college professors — evidence, its leadership says, that the Chinese government is targeting every sector of American public life.

The Chinese government has denied allegations of state-sponsored theft, according to media reports,

Following is the Department of Justice press release:

On the two-year anniversary of the Attorney General’s China Initiative, the Department continues its significant focus on the Initiative’s goals and announced substantial progress during the past year in disrupting and deterring the wide range of national security threats posed by the policies and practices of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) government.

"In the last year, the Department has made incredible strides in countering the systemic efforts by the PRC to enhance its economic and military strength at America’s expense," said Attorney General William P. Barr.  "While much work remains to be done, the Department is committed to holding to account those who would steal, or otherwise illicitly obtain, the U.S. intellectual capital that will propel the future."

"The Chinese Communist Party’s theft of sensitive information and technology isn't a rumor or a baseless accusation.  It’s very real, and it’s part of a coordinated campaign by the Chinese government, which the China Initiative is helping to disrupt," said FBI Director Christopher Wray.  "The FBI opens a new China-related counterintelligence case nearly every 10 hours and we’ll continue our aggressive efforts to counter China’s criminal activity."

Established in November 2018, the Initiative identified a number of goals for the Department, ranging from increased focus on the investigation and prosecution of trade secret theft and economic espionage, to better countering threats posed by Chinese foreign investment and supply chain vulnerabilities. 

Prioritize investigations of economic espionage and trade secret theft

The Initiative prioritizes use of the Department’s core tool, criminal investigation and prosecution, to counter economic espionage and other forms of trade secret theft.  In the past year, the Department charged three economic espionage cases (in which the trade secret theft was intended to benefit the Chinese government), bringing the total to five since the China Initiative was first announced.  Overall, since the Initiative was announced, we have charged more than 10 cases in which the trade secret theft had some alleged nexus to China, and we obtained guilty pleas of three defendants in those cases over the past year.

To take one example, the Department announced the China Initiative on the same day that it unsealed criminal charges against United Microelectronics (UMC), the Chinese state-owned enterprise Fujian Jinhua, and several individual defendants, for economic espionage that victimized Micron Technology, Inc., a leading U.S. semiconductor company. 

"The United Microelectronics case is a glaring example of the PRC’s ‘rob, replicate, and replace’ strategy, in which it robs a U.S. institution of its intellectual capital, replicates the stolen technology, and then endeavors to replace the U.S. institution on the Chinese and then the global market," said John Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security.  "Thanks to the dedication and diligence of prosecutors and FBI agents, UMC pleaded guilty to criminal trade secret theft and agreed to pay a fine of $60 million, the second largest fine in a trade secret case, and to cooperate in the pending prosecution of its co-defendants."

The National Counterintelligence Task Force, co-led by the FBI, launched its first major campaign in 2020, devoted to protecting U.S. technology and research from the Chinese government and its proxies.  This is a further step in the FBI’s and Department’s efforts to enlist all appropriate partners in ensuring integrity in government-funded programs and defeating economic espionage and theft of trade secrets.

Develop an enforcement strategy for non-traditional collectors

At the outset, the Department identified academia as one of our most vulnerable sectors, because its traditions of openness, and the importance of international exchanges to the free flow of ideas, leave it vulnerable to PRC exploitation.  The Department has pursued a two-pronged strategy of raising awareness on campuses of the threats posed by China (and the importance of implementing a security program to detect them) and prosecuting researchers who have deliberately deceived authorities about their ties to China, which deprives institutions of the ability to screen for conflicts of interest and commitment, or otherwise exploited their access.

For example, the PRC has used talent programs to encourage the transfer of technical expertise from the United States, and elsewhere in the world, to benefit the PRC’s economic and military development.  Talent recruits generally sign contracts with the PRC sponsor-entity that obligate them to produce scientific outputs; to publish the results of their work in the name of the PRC beneficiary; to allow the PRC beneficiary to assert intellectual property rights over their outputs; and to recruit other researchers into the programs, among other obligations.  

In exchange, the talent recruits may receive lucrative compensation packages, prestigious titles, and custom-built laboratories. 

“While membership in these talent programs is not per se illegal, and the research itself may not always be protected as a trade secret, we know the PRC uses these plans, such as the well-known Thousand Talents Program, as a vehicle to recruit individuals with access to U.S. government-funded research to work in the interest of the Chinese Communist Party,” said Adam S. Hickey, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, National Security Division. 

The Initiative brings together resources from across the Department, including the National Security, Criminal, Tax, and the Civil Divisions to address this unique challenge fairly and effectively.  In the past year, Department prosecutors have brought fraud, false statements, tax, smuggling and other charges against ten academics affiliated with research institutions across the country.  To date, prosecutors have obtained convictions in three of those cases. 

This year, the FBI and Department prosecutors also exposed six individuals, studying in the United States, found to be connected to People’s Liberation Army military institutes, who concealed their affiliations from the State Department when applying for research visas to study at U.S. universities.  In one of those cases, the Department alleged that a PLA officer was being tasked by superiors in the PRC to obtain information that would benefit PLA operations.  In another case, a PLA medical researcher stands accused of following orders to observe lab operations at a U.S. university, which received funding from the U.S. government, in order to replicate those operations in the PRC. 

In each of the cases, the defendants are accused of concealing their PLA affiliations in order to obtain visas that allowed them to travel to the United States.  After the FBI conducted interviews this summer that led to charges in those cases and the State Department closed the PRC’s Houston Consulate, a large number of undeclared, PLA-affiliated Chinese researchers fled the United States.

Those six examples are just part of the interagency effort to protect academia and taxpayer-funded research.  The FBI and Department have been collaborating with federal grant-making agencies, the Joint Committee on the Research Environment, the major academic associations, the Academic Security and Counter Exploitation working group, and other appropriate entities, as well as hundreds of individual universities nationwide. 

Counter malicious cyber activity

The Department continues to expose and disrupt efforts by the PRC government to steal our intellectual property and our personally identifiable information (PII) through computer intrusions.  During the past year, we charged hackers working for the People’s Liberation Army with the 2017 Equifax intrusion and others associated with the Ministry of State Security (MSS) in relation to global computer intrusion campaigns targeting biomedical companies conducting COVID-19-related research, engineering firms, and software makers.  

One such MSS case resulted in the arrest of two conspirators in Malaysia.  Two of these cases highlighted China’s development into a safe harbor for criminal hackers who also work for the PRC.  The Department disrupted these cyber threats in coordination with the private sector, using legal process to seize control of hacking infrastructure while the private sector removed other infrastructure from their platforms. 

In May, the FBI, in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, also issued a public announcement to raise awareness of the threat to COVID-19 research by PRC-affiliated cyber actors and offer advice on better protecting that research from thefts.

Counter malign foreign influence

The Department has used the Foreign Agents Registration Act (“FARA”), which requires those acting to influence public policy and opinion on behalf of a foreign individual or entity, to improve transparency and expose China’s foreign influence efforts.  Over the past year, the Department opened a record number of FARA investigations overall and doubled the number of new registrants and new foreign principals registering annually as of 2016.  That includes obtaining a record number of registrations from Chinese media companies.  

The Department also notified a registered Chinese media company that its filings were deficient because they failed to fully disclose its activity in the United States and failed to properly label its informational materials.  The media entity remedied those deficiencies shortly thereafter. 

Through its outreach efforts to universities, the Department has highlighted the need to protect foreign students studying in the United States from coercive efforts by the Communist Party to censor the freedom of thought and expression that all students here should enjoy.

In late 2019, the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force formally established a new unit devoted specifically to understanding and defeating the malign foreign influence threat from the Chinese government and its proxies.

Counter foreign intelligence activities

The Department has achieved a number of successes in the last year in countering China’s foreign intelligence activities.  China has been targeting former members of the U.S. intelligence community for recruitment, and the Department has been holding accountable individuals who succumb to their efforts.  In November 2019, a former CIA case officer was sentenced to 19 years in prison for conspiring to deliver national defense information to the PRC.  In August 2020, another former CIA officer who had been tasked by the PRC was arrested on the same charge — the fourth former intelligence officer charged in the last three years for similar conduct. 

The Department is particularly focused on disrupting the PRC government from using career networking and social media sites to target Americans, as well as holding those accountable who hide behind fake profiles to co-opt individuals on behalf of the PRC.  As one part of this effort, the FBI, in partnership with the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, created an educational film, "The Nevernight Connection," which was released online in September 2020 to educate the public about the Chinese intelligence services’ use of social media to spot and recruit persons of interest, especially current or former security clearance holders.

In March 2020, Xuehua (Edward) Peng was sentenced to 48 months in prison, and ordered to pay a $30,000 fine, for acting as an agent of the PRC’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) in connection with a scheme to conduct pickups known as “dead drops” and transport Secure Digital cards containing classified information from a source in the United States to the MSS operatives in China. 

In October 2020, Jun Wei Yeo was sentenced to 14 months in prison for acting within the United States as an agent of the MSS recruiting Americans, including U.S. military and government employees with high-level clearances. Yeo concealed his MSS affiliation from his American targets and used career networking sites and a false consulting firm to lure them to write papers which he ultimately passed to his MSS handlers.

In October 2020, eight defendants were charged with conspiring to act in the United States as illegal agents of the PRC, six of whom also face related charges of conspiring to commit interstate and international stalking.  According to the complaint, the defendants participated in an international campaign to threaten, harass, surveil and intimidate a resident of New Jersey and his family in order to force them to return to the PRC as part of an international effort by the PRC government known as "Operation Fox Hunt" and "Operation Skynet."

In furtherance of the operation, the PRC government targets Chinese individuals living in foreign countries that the PRC government alleges have committed crimes under PRC law and seeks to repatriate them to the PRC to face charges, rather than rely upon proper forms of international law enforcement cooperation.

Foreign investment reviews and telecommunications security

Beyond criminal enforcement, the Department worked to protect our national assets from national security risks posed by entities, subject to PRC influence, that seek to invest in U.S. companies or integrate into our supply chains. 

In April, the Department assumed the permanent chair of the Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector, established by the President through Executive Order (EO), in 2020.  This organization, also known as "Team Telecom," is an interagency group that reviews telecommunications, submarine cable landing, wireless, broadcast license, and other applications referred by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), to identify and address risks to national security and law enforcement.  In the first 90 days after the Executive Order, the Department led Team Telecom to resolve more than half of the cases then pending review.

Team Telecom recommended that the FCC revoke and terminate the international telecommunications licenses held by the U.S. subsidiary of a PRC state-owned telecommunications company, China Telecom, the first revocation ever recommended by Team Telecom on national security grounds.  Team Telecom also recommended that the FCC partially deny a submarine cable application, to the extent it sought a direct connection between the United States and Hong Kong. 

Following the President’s 2019 Executive Order on Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain, the Department has worked with the Commerce Department to develop regulations implementing the EO and has identified vulnerable areas of critical infrastructure that are ripe for investigation under the EO.

The Department also worked to implement the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA), which improved the authorities of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).  During the previous year, the Department co-led a record number of significant CFIUS matters, on an annualized basis, including the investigation of the acquisition of a U.S. hotel management software company by a Chinese company, which the President prohibited, for just the sixth time in CFIUS history.  Under FIRRMA, the FBI continued to provide analytical assistance to support CFIUS’s decision-making and identify high-risk non-notified transactions.

With its increased resources, NSD has played a significant role in CFIUS enforcement, leading the Committee to assess just the second penalty in its history, for failing to secure sensitive personal data in violation of a 2018 interim CFIUS order.  NSD also dedicated personnel to identify transactions of concern that were not voluntarily filed with CFIUS and developed a program to identify bankruptcy cases that could implicate national security concerns.  The bankruptcy program helps to protect U.S. assets from predatory acquisitions, including PRC acquisitions that could impact our national security, which is particularly important in light of the economic impact of COVID-19.

Education and outreach

The success of the China Initiative is not measured by criminal cases and administrative actions alone, however.  Outreach to businesses and academia is critical to helping America’s national assets better protect themselves.  For that reason, the Department disseminated outreach presentations for use by U.S. Attorneys in their Districts, which have been deployed at various events.  

The FBI sustained its engagement with the private sector through various programs, and it developed and disseminated an innovative Academia Field Guide to support focused outreach by its academic outreach coordinators in all 56 field offices.  In the coming year, the Department, through the FBI and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, will continue to expand our partnerships outside the federal government, because the support of the American people is critical to our success.  All of our efforts are on their behalf.     

The Attorney General commends the professionals throughout the Department, including those who work at Main Justice, the FBI, and U.S. Attorney’s Offices around the country, who are committed to meeting the goals of the China Initiative and encourage them to redouble their efforts in the upcoming year. 

Congressional committees question targeting Chinese scientists

SCREEN CAPTURE / CBS

Sherry Chen, left, and Xiaoxing Xi are two Chinese American scientists who were found innocent of spying charges.

The alleged targeting of Chinese and Chinese American scientists is being probed by members of Congress.

Last week, Rep. Judy Chu, the Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), and Rep. Jamie Raskin, the Chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform’s Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, sent letters to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) seeking information related to news reports that these institutions are targeting Chinese American scientists as potential spies.

“While there are undoubtedly authentic and legitimate cases of espionage that should be investigated, these reports have created serious concern that innocent people are being swept up in this initiative,” Chu and Raskin wrote.

According to The New York Times, NIH sent 18,000 letters asking administrators who oversee government grants to increase scrutiny of scientists with foreign ties, especially those with connections to China.

Prosecutions brought under the Economic Espionage Act have disproportionally targeted innocent scientists with Chinese-sounding names. One study found that 52% of individuals charged under the Act since 2009 have been of Chinese heritage.

The letter quotes Frank Wu of the nonpartisan Committee of 100, a group of concerned prominent Chinese Americans,  who say the government policies is promoting a "red scare" and racial profiling.

Many of those individuals were innocent and falsely accused. Defendants of Chinese heritage are more than twice as likely to be acquitted, or have all charges against them dropped, compared to defendants with non-Chinese names.

Raskin and Chu requested that NIH and FBI provide these documents and information by March 5, 2020.

NY Times: NIH investigating 180 cases of theft of medical research for China

The National Institute of Health is investigating 180 cases involving possible theft of medical research by scientists and researchers working -- knowingly or not -- for the benefit of China, according to a report from The New York Times.

If the NIH investigations borne out, they will be turned over to government agencies such as the Department of Justice, for possible prosecution.

The NYTimes report published Tuesday (Nov. 4), repeats some of the individual cases that online news agencies, including Views From the Edge and other Asian American bloggers, have been reporting for the last few years.

“You could take a dart board with medical colleges with significant research programs and, as far as I can tell, you’d have a 50-50 chance of hitting a school with an active case,” Dr. Ross McKinney Jr., chief scientific officer of the Association of American Medical Colleges, told the NYTimes.

The N.I.H. and the F.B.I. have begun a huge investigation to identify out scientists who they say are stealing biomedical research for other countries from institutions across the United States. Almost all of the incidents they uncovered and that are under investigation involve scientists of Chinese descent, including naturalized American citizens, allegedly stealing for China, reports the NYTimes.

The effort is fanning fears among the Asian American community that the aggressive government-led effort in the current tense environment over trade issues could lead to racial profiling and could be just another bargaining chip in the geopolitical wrangling between the Trump administration and the Peoples Republic of China.

“We can’t tell who is guilty or innocent, but look at the actual effect on people of Chinese descent,” said Frank Wu, a law professor at the University of California Hastings School of the Law and former president of the Committee of 100, an organization of Chinese Americans scientists, researchers and innovators in private industry as well as academic institutions. “People are living in fear. It is a question of impact rather than intent.”

“I am getting calls and emails constantly now from ethnic Chinese — even those who are U.S. citizens — who feel threatened,” he said. But few are willing to step forward with allegations of discrimination, Wu told the NYTimes.

"The US-China relationship is the world's most consequential bi-lateral relationship. We must be concerned about security concerns and condemn illegal activity, but in recent years there have been many cases of wrongful prosecution,"  said Chinese American Gary Locke, former US Ambassador to China and former U.S. Secretary of Commerce.

"Our pride in our heritage does not mean we are any less loyal or patriotic to America," Locke added.

READ the entire New York Times report here.

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Conference focuses on impact of US crackdown on Chinese spying

As the US steps up its campaign against Chinese spying and theft of US trade secrets, the spillover effect is a rising suspicion and fear targeting Chinese Americans and a drop in Chinese scientists and students coming to the US to further their research and studies.

A group of leading policy makers, legal experts, educators, business leaders, scientists, and community leaders convened Saturday (Sept. 28) in Silicon Valley to tackle the impact of rising US-China tensions on the Chinese American community and American society as a whole. 

Brought together by the Committee of 100 (C100), an American nonprofit organization of prominent Chinese Americans, the group detailed a heightened rise in scrutiny of Chinese Americans and people of Chinese descent, especially those who work in science and technology, and the chilling effect on civil liberties, as well as American science, technology and research initiatives.

"With growing US-China tensions and fears of Chinese espionage, we hear clearly from our members that Asian Americans, especially those who work in the STEM fields, are facing an increasingly hostile environment where our loyalty is being consistently and unfairly challenged," said H. Roger Wang, C100 chairman.

One of the Chinese Americans greatly harmed by the US crackdown is Xiaoxing Xi, who told his story at the Palo Alto event. Until May 2015, he was the respected chairman of Temple University’s physics department. FBI agents burst into his home outside Philadelphia with guns drawn and accused him of being a spy.

Four months later, federal prosecutors dropped the charges after experts provided affidavits that the information Xi sent to scientists in China was widely known and publicly available on the internet.

But the damage was done, says Xi, who grew emotional as he continued his story about suffering the great shame, the mounting legal expenses and the loss of his university chairmanship and most of his federal research grants and contracts.

"We are a nation built on immigrants, and we must not allow our fears to create an environment that erodes America's talent pool nor America's values of equal opportunity for all, freedom of inquiry, scientific integrity, and openness," said Wang.

C100 research from 2017 shows that the percentage of people of Chinese heritage charged under the Economic Espionage Act (EEA) tripled from 2009 to 2017, and that defendants of Asian heritage convicted of espionage received sentences over twice as severe as those of other ethnicities.

At the conference, speakers detailed the negative impact of a climate of fear and suspicion on individual scientists and researchers, as well as on a wide range of industries, universities, research institutions and businesses critical to U.S. innovation and economic leadership.

This is a hot topic in Silicon Valley, the center of new tech innovation in the US, where about 60% of its employees in the “innovation industries” are foreign born — primarily from China and India" — said Carl Guardino, president of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, a public policy organization representing 350 of the region’s employers. Restricting that flow of talent would be “catastrophic for our economy,” he said.

Dr. David D. Ho, one of world's top researchers for HIV for which he was named Time Magazine's Man of the Year in 2014: "There's a chill in the air for Chinese and Chinese-American scientists. Over 250 scientists are being investigated in over 60 institutions, many of whom are Chinese or Chinese American. 

"Science depends on open and free exchange. Science has no borders. Science by definition is global. The real threat is not from occasional cases of espionage; the real threat is not believing in science, and the creation of a toxic environment that drives away talented Chinese and Chinese-American scientists."

A survey last year by the American Physical Society found that Chinese applicants to U.S. PhD programs in physics dropped by 16.4% from 2017 to 2018 — larger than an overall decline of nearly 12% among all international applicants.

There are widespread reports that Chinese students are facing visa delays and rejections, which many universities fear will cause a sharp decline in their numbers, research talent and tuition revenue, according to the L.A. Times.

"The US-China relationship is the world's most consequential bi-lateral relationship. We must be concerned about security concerns and condemn illegal activity, but in recent years there have been many cases of wrongful prosecution. Our pride in our heritage does not mean we are any less loyal or patriotic to America," said Gary Locke, former US Ambassador to China and former U.S. Secretary of Commerce.

A survey last year by the American Physical Society found that Chinese applicants to U.S. PhD programs in physics dropped by 16.4% from 2017 to 2018 — larger than an overall decline of nearly 12% among all international applicants.

There are widespread reports that Chinese students are facing visa delays and rejections, which many universities fear will cause a sharp decline in their numbers, research talent and tuition revenue, according to the L.A. Times.

Steven Chu, a Nobel laureate in physics who served as energy secretary under Obama and now teaches at Stanford University, said the US has richly benefited from immigrants who have helped the nation make sizable leaps in science and technology — including those fleeing Nazi Germany who advanced the field of atomic energy and many Chinese scientists who came or stayed here during the Cultural Revolution," reports the LA Times. He said if not for Chinese “stars,” Standord is leading the battery storage research today — and questioned whether the Trump administration’s more restrictive immigration policies would alter that.

Federal officials tried to assure the C100 gathering that the  government is innocent of racial profiling. The US is targeting illegal conduct, not particular groups of people, said David Stilwell, assistant secretary of State and an East Asia expert, said in a live video linkup.

“Our concern is not focused on any ethnic groups or nationalities,” said Stillwell.

However, he admits, the FBI is investigating more than 1,000 cases of attempted theft of intellectual property, and “almost all lead back to China.”

One of the conference outcomes is that C100 will generate recommendations to share with congressional leaders, the scientific and educational communities, law-enforcement, businesses, and civic organizations and communities.

Conference Chair Charlie Woo noted, "It is our hope to come together and find balanced solutions that protect national security, uphold the civil liberties of all Americans, and continue to foster the welcoming environment for the development of science, technology and research that America has always been known for."

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Analysis: Campaign in Ohio whips up anti-Chinese hysteria

By Louis Chan

ASAM NEWS

A new ad running in Ohio just might be funny if it's anti-Chinese message weren't so frightening for Asian Americans.

The ad features ominous looking Chinese officials and a narrator warning of Chinese who “took over our manufacturing jobs, shuttered our factories, now they’re coming for our energy jobs.”

The ad is a preemptive strike against a petition circulating in the state calling for the overturn of a $1 billion bailout of two nuclear power plants in Ohio.

This may sound too incredulous to be true. You can see the add below.

Ohioans can expect to see the ad until it makes them nauseous. The campaign to defend the bailout is expected to spend a million dollars on TV and radio spots soon, according to CleveScene.com.

This is happening in Ohio. Its a state Donald Trump needs to win to be elected to a second term. Remember, no Republican has ever been elected president without winning Ohio. If this type of campaign can win in Ohio, it’s an indication Ohioans just might hand Trump another four years.

An analysis by the Cincinnati Enquirer calls the ad’s claims weak.

The assumption here is that Ohio’s natural gas fired plants are trying to bury competition from nuclear power plants.

“They want to kill their Ohio-based competition so their companies gain market share and gain a majority of Ohio’s electrical grid,” Carlo LoParo, a spokesman for the group behind the ad, told The Enquirer.

Ohioans for Energy Security says three out of four of the natural gas fired plants in Ohio are backed by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. What the ad leaves out is that those same plants are also financed by a total of ten banks including global banks from Switzerland, France, Australia and other countries. The ad also doesn’t mention that the Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp of Ohio which runs several nuclear power plants in the state also has been back by the Chinese bank.

The experts say that claims Chinese foreign interests can gain control of America’s energy grid are suspect.

“We have pretty strong regulation of utilities that would prevent foreign governments from controlling them,” David Dollar, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told the Enquirer.

Those are the facts, but unfortunately as this country has learned, facts don’t always matter to uneducated voters who kept swept up by misguided emotions lead by unscrupulous demagogues.

At least one Asian American group in Ohio is discussing how to respond to the ad. As word makes its way across the country about this ad, hopefully groups in Ohio will also gain support from national Asian American groups.

This type of anti-Chinese hysteria is nothing new. National Asian American leaders have long warned of racial profiling against the Chinese community as tensions rise between the US and China. Innocent Chinese American lives have been ruined by false charges of spying-charges which were later dropped without apology or explanation.

This ad is just the latest chapter in the rising phobia against the Asian American community. National leaders in the community would be wise to join in speaking out against the latest racist attack.

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House bill seeks to prevent anti-Chinese racial profiling

Rep. Ed Case, D-HI, successfully added an amendment to a bill to address concerns of stereotyping, targeting and racial profiling of Chinese Americans. 

“IWhile there is no doubt that we must take national security threats from foreign countries seriously, we must reject the flawed narrative that simply being of Chinese descent is grounds for suspicion," said Rep. Judy Chu, D-CA, chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. "Such overly broad stereotyping, targeting and racial profiling is dangerous and runs contrary to the values of our nation.

The amendment  to H.R. 3494, the Damon Paul Nelson and Matthew Young Pollard Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 would require the Director of National Intelligence to submit a report to Congress on how current intelligence policies, procedures, and practices targeting the People’s Republic of China may also impact the privacy and civil liberties of Chinese Americans.

The House passed the bill July 17 with bipartisan support, 397-31.

“Unfortunately, we have seen how certain actions by our government directed at Chinese nationals have impacted U.S. citizens.," continued Chu. 

"We need to look no further than the examples of Sherry Chen and Dr. Xioaxing Xi, two Chinese American scientists who were wrongfully accused of espionage by the FBI only to have their charges dropped with no explanation. We must ensure that what happened to these two innocent Americans does not happen to other U.S. citizens simply because of the way they look. There must be no room for racial prejudice and ethnic targeting in our country’s laws and practices.”

While acknowledging the very real efforts of China to steal industrial secrets and academic research, Case said, “In these recent years of justifiably heightened scrutiny on the intelligence activities of the People’s Republic of China, a disproportionate number of Americans of Chinese descent have been investigated and prosecuted for espionage. Those convicted have received disproportionately high sentences and the too many exonerated have had their careers ruined nonetheless.

“No doubt China seeks to recruit Chinese Americans to its goals, and no doubt our government should and must review specific cases of potential espionage by China on specific facts. But have we fallen into the same trap all over again of justifying investigations and other actions toward the end of national security by the means of general profiling and targeting based solely on ethnic identity?" asked Case.

“This amendment is a flashing red light to our intelligence community: stop, look and listen. Take some time to think it through, to be sure you’re staying on the right side of that line, and then report back to Congress that you have done so and have the procedures and mindset in place to assure that we won’t repeat history, with Chinese Americans or any other broad ethnic or interest group,” Case said.

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